Knots landing

By
Tom Toles

***

Outsmarting ourselves

Suppose you came to work one day and somebody else was sitting at your computer! This is a ridiculous, outmoded fear. Because what you should really be concerned about is that NOBODY will be sitting at your computer because your chair is gone and your computer is running itself.

This is one of those perennial type of apocalypse jobs stories that seem like they must be true and simultaneously seem like they won't be true, because they rarely are. Still, it's hard to spot the obvious flaw in the logic. Kids in school don't seem to be getting any smarter, but computers sure are. What's that formula, again? Computing power doubles every two years and doesn't leave crumbs at its desk? It's not that computers are going to outclass us someday; they already have, but we haven't realized it yet because of our slower processing capacity.

So, yes, one day machines will do our work for us, but we never figured out that little paycheck wrinkle. Slow processing capacity, again. -- Tom Toles

Here's the funny part...said that the Fish & Game officials 'believe' the fish to be anchovies and sardines. They 'believe' them to be....strange. I would think they should know what type of fish they are looking at. Maybe I'm expecting too much.
Posted by: bertzel

Right Bertzel...
You would think people would understand that they are being made a fool of by the Republicans too.
But like dead fish; they continue to float down stream into the pits of hell.
The Republican Party is not based on Plato's Republic because they are not based on what is good nor are they "conservative" because they squander money on their rich contributors and malicious wars.
To make things worse, they are destroying our manufacturing capacity and leaving people without jobs to support their families.
There is no joy to poverty; it is demeaning and corruptive.
Dave

The good news is that things will sort themselves out. The bad news is that we need to run our collective selves out of fossil fuels first.

Meanwhile, some of us are still able to change our own oil and fix our own appliances and do our own carpentry. Has anybody else noticed what people are willing to pay for an oil change?!? THERE is some easy money to be made.

Funny, we castigate the Chinese for their lack of wisdom in creating as many jobs for their citizens, while we castigate ourselves for allowing predatory capitalism to result in high unemployment. Kinda hard to have it both ways, is it not?

will...am happy for you...now if you could have the computer company you work for see about having the hardware manufactured and put together in the states...well then you could and would have something to brag about.
If what you say is true, you are only adding to the artificial intelligence that will continue to replace humans in the work force. Just my personal take, will.Course you will still have your job...until you have succeeded to do what your employer has hired you to do, at which point you, too, will be of little use, thanks to your 'special'skills : )

speaking of illusion and delusion pdog...
I was reading an article @ forbes awhile ago...did you know that millions of dead fish are currently in a southern California Marina?
The report claims that in some areas the dead fish are so thick that boats couldn't get out of the marina. Here's the funny part...said that the Fish & Game officials 'believe' the fish to be anchovies and sardines. They 'believe' them to be....strange. I would think they should know what type of fish they are looking at. Maybe I'm expecting too much.

Tom, regarding the sketch toon, haven't you heard? The rich getting a bigger slice of the pie is a GOOD thing! This is what conservatives keep telling me anyway. They have yet to really explain it, but they sure do defend it with great amounts of enthusiasm. And when I pester them with questions trying to actually get them to explain it with any sort of facts or logic, they seem to grow more aggitated, and then fall back to, "the rich really aren't getting richer! That's a liberal lie!"

Don't you see? You, much like me, are delusional and wrong. You must reform your thinking. Come with me to the Ministry of Love, and we'll both get straightened out.

~~~Then there is confirmation bias. Belief based on faith ("science kills") becomes stronger, more fervent in the face of contrary evidence. We have strong, compelling evidence of AGW caused by CO2. But belief in the opposite seems to become stronger because deniers engage in selective thinking. I believe that those of us who take a more science-based approach have little problem changing our minds when faced with compelling evidence, precisely because our beliefs are not based on faith. People with a strong confirmation bias can be made to believe impossible things, such as that increased solar radiation is causing global warming. [Solar radiation has been declining since about 1960.] Another impossible belief is that people were riding around on dinosaurs a very few thousand years ago. Or--try to imagine this if you can--that the GOP is the party of fiscal responsibility. Or that Scott Walker must eliminate collective union bargaining rights for WI public employees. Or that the Tea Party ( "the Constitution,Founding Fathers) has something going for them other than mindless anger and some slogans. And the Tea Party isthe perfect example of those who group-think and are subject to confirmation bias. Science, empirical data, critical thinking do not support their agenda. But they believe.
Posted by: ptgrunner | March 7, 2011 8:22 PM~~~~

runner, at first glance it would appear that you have an intriguing post.
After a closer look, however, one can only conclude that you suffer a great deal from Confirmation Bias.Therefore, no reason for further discussion.
Just sayin'...

Mr. Krugman has just proved to be one of many who refuse to remove their blinders.

~~”We’ll have to go about building that society directly.”~~

Really… And he thinks unions are the answer? If one were serious about building a more positive society, wouldn’t one use fresh ideas instead of relying on the old ways, which have been proven to fail? Is his article meant to be taken seriously? cuz I am refraining from posting a big ‘ole LOL (oops)!

~~We need to restore the bargaining power that labor has lost… blah, blah…so that ordinary workers as well as superstars ( he is worried about SUPERSTARS?) have the power to bargain for good wages.~~~

Superstars bargaining for “good” wages! WOW. And ‘ordinary’ workers? What is an ordinary worker? One who is not a ‘superstar’?
My point, and I am trying to make one, is that the job market in the states is steadily shrinking and while I agree that a college education, has indeed, lost its pizzazz in the market place we should be concentrating on the improvement of how one does business in this country. The ‘old way’ has not proven to be effective over time.
We need to REFORM our Corporate Structure not age old unions. We, the working class (what is left anyway), should not have to pay someone else for our protection from thugs. Sound familiar to anyone? Anyone??

~~ So, yes, one day machines will do our work for us, but we never figured out that little paycheck wrinkle. Slow processing capacity, again. -- Tom Toles

Welcome to the rest of the world Toles…you would be wise to invest in a nice sturdy toilet brush : )

Fascinating how you were able on 7 March at 8:22pm able to answer definitively the comments addressed to you in the following hour! Or did those comments respond not to what you said but to what the writers believed you might have said (and hence had no need to read your post)? Thereby demonstrating exactly the point you were making!

A detail re the poison pill: prior to the 2008 election, one of the very wealthy, on learning the gist of what was happening Sept-Oct '08, commented "So maybe this would be a good time for a Democrat to be in office for a while."

I can see you now, raising your hand at basic training, querying to your drill sergeant as to why was he referring to you as being slow as pond water when you were just trying your best....? So yeah, Gomer, I am wondering why you are such a frail flower petal, 'tis true.

Claiming climate change theory is a purely scientific discussion is a TOTALLY myopic stance on your part and indicative of the your close-minded responses to every debate point. Claiming 'you' engage in scientific discussion within the blog is amusing: a real scientist would surely shake his/her head at that notion. Real scientists aren't participating in this blog and surely aren't named 'Dr. Toles.' Laymen such as folks in this blog, can debate the logic of climate change theory without falling into the trap of confirmation theory.

There are incredibly diverse and hotly contested international and domestic policy positions on climate change theory. Nations and political parties have all staked out positions that seek to control or assume more power using climate change theory as their means to an end.

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